Uruguay is the only country in the world which has a five-year budget. A budget is prepared by each new government taking office and voted within 6 months of its swearing in, for the whole five-year government term. Each year, an annual revision (“budget update”) takes place, where the...

Health financing policies are an essential element of health system responses to COVID-19. Sound policies help ensure there are sufficient resources to combat COVID-19, that the resources are disbursed rapidly, and that resources are spent in an effective manner. The effective implementation of...

The Philippines has placed a strong emphasis on achieving Universal Health Coverage. In recent years, earmarked funds from new alcohol and tobacco taxes have substantially increased government funds available for health. This additional funding offers great potential to improve access and health...

The speed of income convergence in Europe remains one of the hot topics in regional economics. Recently Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) applied to spatial autoregressive models seems to have gained more popularity. BMA averages over some predetermined number of so called top models, ranked by the...

Norway is one of the top spenders on health care among OECD countries in per capita terms but much closer to the average when seen as a share of GDP. The question is to what extent these two key measures are compatible, and how Norway really measures up to other relevant high-income countries in...

OECD countries face the multiple challenges of rapidly ageing societies with the associated rise in chronic diseases and the ever-present threat from new or evolving communicable diseases. This is within the context of seeking better value for money from the health sector. While a growing body...

The speed of income convergence in Europe remains one of the hot topics in regional economics. Recently Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) applied to spatial autoregressive models seems to have gained more popularity. BMA averages over some predetermined number of so called top models, ranked by the...

The speed of income convergence in Europe remains one of the hot topics in regional economics. Recently Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) applied to spatial autoregressive models seems to have gained more popularity. BMA averages over some predetermined number of so called top models, ranked by the...